


Outsider

by winterhats



Series: What's new? [2]
Category: Kagerou Project, Mekakucity Actors
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Gen, post-STR
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-04
Updated: 2018-11-04
Packaged: 2019-08-17 12:30:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16516544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/winterhats/pseuds/winterhats
Summary: Shintaro wonders why he keeps meddling in family dramas.(He's actually just trying to be a good friend).





	Outsider

**Author's Note:**

> I hate this fic but I spent way too much time in it not to publish it. It's a continuation to another fic of mine. Maybe I'll write more for these series, we'll see...
> 
> I don't even know where I was going with this fic. *Sighs heavily*
> 
> Anyway. Hope you don't mind my little fankid Fuyuha's in here. I just can't see, to save my life, Haruka and Takane naming their kid "Ene". Where did that come from? Well, I hope the foreign name doesn't make you uncomfortable when reading!

For reasons Shintaro doesn't feel like dwelling on, he finds himself doing the Kokonose family a lot of favours.

Truthfully, they're small favours. He'll go fetch something they forgot to buy at the grocery store if he was in his way to have dinner at their place, or he'll watch their small daughter for a while if they're both stuck at work until late.

Shintaro is okay with this. It allows him to see his friends regularly and to feel a little less useless.

 _This_ , however, was a little over the line of what he was willing to put up with.

"I can't feel this side of my face," Haruka announces to him, for what it seems like the millionth time in the last hour. Shintaro sighs, and fumbles with the keys as he tries to lock the door after entering Haruka and Takane's house.

Of course, he has his own set of keys for when they need him to watch their little girl. And also for when he runs out of food at his own place and there's no one here.

After deciding that locking the door with Haruka clinging on him like this was impossible, Shintaro turns around. He puts Haruka's arm across his shoulders so it was more comfortable for both of them to walk, and helps him to the living room (he was _not_  climbing the stairs with the zombie version of gentle giant Kokonose Haruka).

"My cheek is gone and I can't feel it," Haruka says again, slurring his words, his voice mushy because of the gauze inside his mouth. Shintaro, as soon as they find themselves to be close enough to the couch, lets go of his friend.

Haruka plops down on the cushions, immediately curling up to a side and closing his eyes.

Shintaro sighs, and at the other man's groans, he repeats, "Again. It's just the anesthesia, dude. Stop being so whiny."

He just offers another groan.

If it was in his capacities, Shintaro will honestly do anything for Haruka and Takane. But when Takane told him that they needed her at work the day she supposedly had free, which was also the day they scheduled Haruka's dentist appointment on, he was painfully aware of the next favour she was going to ask him.

Driving Haruka home from the dentist was funny at first. Since he was high on nitrous oxide, he would say uncalled for things like "my father's the worst!" out of nowhere before bursting into laughter, and to be honest Shintaro had a _lot_  of fun hearing him talk like that. But now Haruka was just plain depressing.

"Shintaro-kun, there's something like metal inside my mouth."

"Yeah, don't take it out or you'll bleed."

"I won't be able to eat ever again."

"What–"

"Do you understand how tragic this is?"

Without answering, Shintaro sits down next to him on the couch, while Haruka continued to let out soft, incoherent babbles, now along Takane's name.

Which was good, because it reminded him of the next thing he needed to do; notify a certain someone about her husband being safely retreated to his house. He grabs his phone and looks through his contacts.

As the tone beeped next to his ear, he watched Haruka opening and closing his mouth, probably testing how much he was feeling or something, as he lazily stared off at the wall. He looked super out of it; right now, he kind of reminded Shintaro of Konoha.

Truthfully, Shintaro wasn't supposed to bring Haruka home yet. When he got there, the dentist told him they should wait for the effect of the anesthesia to wear off, but drunk-Haruka had other plans.

He did _not_  want to sit still, that was a big no-no. He wanted to leave the clinic as soon as possible, and Shintaro decided to comply after Haruka's eyes turned red and he broke the armrest of his chair. They were alone at the moment, so Shintaro placed the thing where it was, grabbed his bag, his drugged friend, and left before Haruka decided to use his eye power again.

"Hello?"

His thoughts are interrupted with Takane's sharp voice.

"Hey," he starts, hating the smile that forms on his face when he hears her. Kisaragi Shintaro has a severe case of "man, I just love my friends so goddamn much". "Just got back from the dentist with Haruka. He's okay."

"Ah, really? That's early... okay, well, good," Takane's answer takes a moment to come, and next thing, he hears her speak to someone else in a lower tone before coming back to the phone, "I'm glad. You staying for dinner?"

He doubts Haruka will cook today (Haruka's cooking is the best thing to have ever graced the Earth, by the way), but Takane's been getting good at it too, Shintaro must admit. So the question makes him excited; it's sort of an invitation, after all.

Shintaro _loves_  to have dinner here. It's not lonely and the food's good. He loves it.

"Hm, yeah, I guess I could."

Gotta play it cool though.

"Alright then. I'll make enough dinner for you too then," Takane absently says. "Is Haruka alright?"

"I already said he is."

"Yes but like, you know how he gets with hospitals and stuff," she clarifies, suddenly very into the conversation. "He was a little freaked out about the dentist."

"...Right," Shintaro nods, even if Takane can't see him. Haruka gets uncomfortable and super shifty everytime he has this sort of thing, that's true. And before he did go a little crazy. He steals a glance of him, but he's only blinking very hard and waving his hand in front of his own face. "Um, well, he's okay. He _did_  throw a fit when we were leaving. That's why we're early, he just wanted to leave as soon as possible."

Takane groans, "Ugh, please tell me he didn't break anything."

"Nothing you can prove."

"Great. It'll be our little secret, then."

"Of course. Sober Haruka would want to pay for it and make a big deal out of it. As if I wanted to explain _how_  he broke an armrest with his bare hands."

"Oh, _god_ , he broke an armrest? Hot."

"Your description of _hot_  intrigues me."

Ignoring his answer, Takane finally realizes what he said earlier, "Wait. _Sober_  Haruka? What does that mean?"

"Ah, yeah," Shintaro suddenly remembers he didn't update on Haruka's current state."Well, since we left earlier, he didn't get to regain all his senses yet. He's okay, but technically kinda high on nitrous oxide."

"...Nitro-what."

He rolls his eyes, deciding to speak in Takane's language instead, "Laughing gas."

Seriously, who doesn't know that? Spent so much time living in the internet and she's still as dumb as ever.

"Ohhh, oh," she goes, chuckling for longer than necessary. "Wow, that's just priceless. Is he saying dumb stuff?"

"Well, yeah. But it's just babbles about you and he freaks out when he realizes he has hands, so it's not that different from normal Haruka," he tells her, and Takane lets out another laugh. "Wanna talk to him?"

" _Yes,_  please," she quickly says, so Shintaro moves the phone away from his ear. He puts it on speaker, looking at the sleepy guy next to him,

"It's Takane. She wants to say hi."

Haruka looked a little off for a second, but after properly processing his words, he immediately exclaims, "Takane!"

"Hey, hubby!" Takane's voice, a lot more cheerful than before, rings from the phone. "Whatcha doing?"

"Oh, Takane, it's wonderful," Haruka drunkenly says. "Shintaro-kun is such a good friend. He picked me up from the clinic."

"Yep, I know, babe. I told him to."

"You did, Takane? Oh, wow, Takane, you think of everything, Takane! Takane, I love you so much, Takane!"

She laughs again, "Why gotta repeat my name so many times?"

"Because it's important I don't forget it again!"

There's sudden silence at the other end of the line. Shintaro coughs awkwardly. Haruka realizes he has hands again.

"Oh my god," he mutters, softly. "Takane, this... this is terrible."

"Wh – what is?"

"I have a ring," he looks at Shintaro in desperation, probably because there was no one else to look at. "I'm married, Takane. Our love is forbidden."

There's a sigh of relief coming from the phone, and another laugh, "Are you now. Guess that makes you a cheater."

Shintaro, meanwhile, starts to feel awkward. Holding his own phone so Haruka and Takane can have a cheesy conversation isn't exactly how he'd like to be spending his evening, yet here he is. He doesn't want a drugged man grabbing his phone, though. Sober Haruka is clumsy enough. So despite he inwardly complained, he doesn't say anything.

"Oh, never! I'll have to break up with them, I'm no cheater," Haruka concludes. "The problem is that I feel like they're very great and I love them a lot. Oh, Shintaro-kun, what do I do? I'm in love with whoever my legal partner is and Takane."

Shintaro lets out a tired sigh, "Takane's the one you're married to, Haruka. I swear to god. She literally called you hubby when she said hi."

Takane laughs again, "Plot twist."

He looks at him with a grimace, as if in mistrust, then he looks at his wedding ring again, then at the phone, and then into nothingness as he apparently thought things out.

"Takane, do you have a ring too?"

"Yup."

"Oh, wow!" Haruka starts fanning himself with his own hands, and whispers, "She's my wife, Shintaro-kun!"

"Sure am," Takane answers, since that whisper wasn't really a whisper. "And we have a daughter too."

" _What!_ "

"Okay, that's enough," Shintaro, deciding he was done with that mushy conversation, brings the phone closer to his mouth. "As you can see, he's fine. Now I'll hang up. Bye."

"Jeez, chill. 'Kay, I was about to head home anyway, so see ya."

"Bye–"

"Oh, byeeee Takaneeeeeee!" Haruka goes, before Shintaro could end the call. He started making kissy noises at his phone, "I love you a looot! I have lots of kisses stored just for youuuu!"

"I'll be home soooon, so save theeem," Takane says, extending her words in the same tone Haruka used.

"Okaaay! I'll kiss you later, theeen!"

"Okaaay."

"Okaaay!"

"Ok–" Shintaro hangs up.

Haruka, very offended, frowns at him, and slurs, "I was in the middle of an important discussion with my wife, Shintaro-kun."

He rolls his eyes; he seriously doesn't understand how two people can like each other so much. Good thing he doesn't freeload around here as much as he used to, because honestly, they're sickening.

Just last week, when he stayed over because he was too depressed to come back home, he went downstairs in the middle of the night for something healthy to drink (soda) and found them slow dancing in the living room. No, not even slow dancing. Just hugging while they swayed.

The idiots didn't even notice him there, they were practically asleep. They didn't even have music on, only the soundtrack of a paused shooting game at a very low volume. Shintaro couldn't believe his eyes. What kind of people stay that in love after having a kid?

The kind of people Haruka and Takane are, apparently.

Seriously, even if they weren't speaking or kissing or whatever, that scene alone made Shintaro more flustered than he would have been if he walked in on them making out or something. It just reeked of– ugh, affection.

 _Ew,_  Shintaro had thought that night, while he came back upstairs without his soda because he didn't want to ruin their moment.

"I miss her," popping his bubble of thought, Haruka speaks up. Shintaro can't roll his eyes enough; he doesn't want to hear this again. He was probably about to start ranting about Takane the same way he did in the second half of the trip back home. "I miss her so much."

"She just said she was about to head off," he still says. "So she'll be back in like, what, ten, fifteen minutes? You can wait that long."

But his friend just lets out a long sigh, as if protesting. "I wanna kiss her."

"So you've mentioned."

"And she's so pretty."

"Whatever."

"And her boobies are so soft."

"Oh my god," despite he can't help laughing at Haruka's sleepy conclusions, Shintaro shakes his head, and softly smacks him on the shoulder. "You are _so_  out of it."

"But it's true," Haruka leans his head back, his eyes closing for a moment. "Her boobies are just so..."

Shintaro cackles when he sees Haruka start making grabby hands as if that was an acceptable qualifying adjective to use to describe his wife's breasts. Takane would end him if she was here, and a part of Shintaro really wanted to see that, so he did the next logical thing and continued to laugh.

And then he hears the front door opening and closing, and wow, just how did Takane get back so quickly?

He pushes Haruka by hitting his shoulder again, so he'd stop the hands thing and the babbles about, eh, boobies, because the other part of him didn't really want Haruka to be murdered by Takane. He does stop, but slumps over to the armrest, his eyes still closed.

But then Shintaro realizes it wasn't Takane who came home, it was too soon. Instead, it must be someone else, which is confirmed by a loud, familiar announcement,

"I'm homeeeee!"

Shintaro instantly recognizes the shrill voice of Haruka and Takane's three year old daughter. He worries for a second because, holy shit, did she come home by herself? Haruka was at the appointment, he was with him, and Takane was at work.  
  
(Well, he knows it's common for kids to come back by themselves, but Haruka and Takane were too paranoid for that).

He barely hears her say goodbye to someone outside, and another child and a woman's voices doing the same, and then he realizes she must've came back accompanied by a classmate and their mother. Okay, good to know.  
  
Haruka, despite having apparently forgotten that he had a daughter five minutes ago, reacts excitedly, "Fuyu! Welcome home!"

He doesn't move from his spot on the armrest though, and his voice sounded broken and asleep. The little girl though, doesn't seem to notice the strange sound in her father's answer and instead, runs towards the couch at full velocity upon appearing in the living room, "DADDY!"

She lands on Haruka's stomach in a way that makes him let out a choking sound. Shintaro winces, because, yikes...

Haruka, on the other hand, doesn't tell Fuyuha that she hurt him and instead just hugs her in that current lazy spirit of his. Usually, he'll ask her how her day at school went and shower her in kisses and tickles, but since he's still way too drugged, all he says to her is, "I would _die_  for you."

Fuyuha, putting her hand on his shoulders to break apart from the hug, only looks back at him with a confused smile, "Wh–"

"W – WELCOME HOME, FUYUHA!" Shintaro immediately cuts in, because he knows this girl will start crying uncontrollably once she finishes processing her father's words. Kids know the concept of death at a young age nowadays, huh. "How was your day, eh!?"

"Uncle Shishin!" ignoring his question, Fuyuha jumps from Haruka's lap to crashland on him instead. Shintaro feels his soul leave his body because ouch, ouch, ouch. She's stepping on his crotch and it hurts a lot. "You're having dinner with us? Yay! I love you!"

Feeling his heart grow ten times its normal size, Shintaro smiles at her, "Eh– yeah. And it's Shintaro, not Shishin. Now, _get off_."

He wishes he could convey that heart growth out loud, but that's all he can offer when his crotch is being stepped on. Fuyuha pouts, but she does as told. Not without giving him a noisy kiss on his cheek first, though.

He wipes it, not surprised in the slightlest.

She is very, very affectionate, after all, and announces her love to everything and everyone very often. Shintaro blames Haruka and Takane, because what can come out of two people who say "I love you" to each other as much as them? Easy, this child.

Shintaro thinks it's a stupid sight when those three get up and they're all sleepely hugging each other while making breakfast, almost as if they were stitched together. Still, he's yet to find a reason why that's annoying. It just is.

"Oh, where's mommy?" Fuyuha suddenly asks, despite she knows Takane's always at work when she comes back from preschool.

"Wo... work... work. Mommy's at work," Haruka speaks very slowly, basically hypnotized with his daughter, and watching her with a fondness that makes Shintaro sigh again. Oh, there was the reason why the affection the Kokonoses showed each other bothered him so much; it makes him feel out of place. "Oh, I just love your mommy so much, Fuyu."

"I love her too," she answers in a heartbeat. "She makes yummy food."

"She does. And she's so beautiful and soft."

"Yes, mommy's very beautiful!"

"She's very soft, too... ah, I said that already. But she's soft. And also–"

As Haruka began to rant about his wife's "boobies" again, Fuyuha fortunately loses interest in her father's fascination for her mother, turning to Shintaro instead, "Don't you love my mommy too, uncle Shishin?"

Um, how did this become a Kokonose Takane appreciation moment?

"Uh, she's okay," of course he loves her too, but he'll be caught dead before saying it out loud (he already did once, when Takane was in labor, but _hey_ , both of them were on edge then, don't remind him of embarrassing things!).

Fuyuha seems satisfied with that answer, and if she wasn't, she can't say anything because Haruka's speaking again, "Say, Fuyu, how would you feel about a little sibling?"

Shintaro, officially, feels like air is being sucked out of his lungs, at the same time he sees literal stars in Fuyuha's eyes.

He thought she'd scream, because she just screams a lot out of excitment and she's _always_  very excited about everything, but instead, she pauses. Which was incredible in itself. Fuyuha does not pause, ever.

She looks at her father for a moment, before finally saying something. She talks in a very low and hopeful tone, "Really?"

Shintaro swallows, because, _what was happening._

His friends are having another kid and he's finding out because an out of it Haruka said it to his daughter?

Takane's going to murder him, Shintaro thinks, trying to put himself into her mind.

Okay, when she was pregnant with Fuyuha she wanted to hide it so much she almost doesn't even tell Haruka, _her husband_ , so he's sure that if she's really pregnant again, Fuyuha is the last person she'd want to know.

Because Fuyuha just finds everything exciting, and she'll be heartbroken if something happens and she doesn't end up getting a sibling. This is the conclusion Shintaro gets to in his attempt of thinking like Takane, and he thinks it's very accurate.

But Haruka shakes his head, ruffling Fuyuha's mop of short black hair and laughing again, "Oh, of course not! Mommy isn't pregnant!"

Shintaro sighs in relief for a second there, because that meant Haruka isn't getting murdered by Takane later (this is already the second time he's relieved of that). But only for a second because... what? What did he mean with "how do you feel about a sibling", then?

"Pre-what?" Fuyuha says, sounding exactly the same as when Takane asked Shintaro what did he mean with nitrous oxide. The child just pouts, now looking exactly like Haruka does when he pouts, "So I'm not getting a sibling?"

"Oh, I'd love it if you got a little sibling," Haruka nods. "Mommy's the one who doesn't want it, and it makes sense because it's her body so she gets the final word and it doesn't matter what I want, please don't tell Takane I lied when I told her I didn't want a second kid either and Fuyu, have you washed your hands?"

Both Fuyuha and Shintaro blink at him. Shintaro, because out of that whole thing he blurted out he understood everything and was currently very worried. Fuyuha, because she didn't get a single word of it. At her silence, Haruka goes,

"You know you gotta go wash your hands when you get home and... my mouth tastes like blood."

"Ehh? Daddy, are you okay?"

"You aren't supposed to talk that much, dumbass, you just got a tooth taken out!"

When Haruka only groans again, Fuyuha's worried face grows. God, please just one Kokonose to babysit at a time.

Shintaro still takes it upon himself to calm her down because he's a great friend slash uncle.

"He's okay. He just went to the dentist today," he tells her, because she knows what a dentist is, right? Fortunately Fuyuha nods, and goes "ah, right", so he guesses these are familiar news to her. But she's still looking past him, at her father's sleepy face. "I'm taking good care of him and your mom will be home soon to do it herself, so, um, don't worry and go wash your hands, alright?"

He sees how she seemed a lot more reassured once Takane was mentioned, so she nods again, "Alright..."

She stares while walking away, so Shintaro offers her a nervous smile for as long as she does so. And when she's out of sight, he drops the smile and desperately turns to Haruka. He hears the bathroom's door close, as he asks,

"Okay, what the heck was that about?"

"A bit of blood, that's all. Not yummy–"

"I meant the kids thing. How come you told Takane you didn't want another kid when you do?"

"Oh, that," Haruka goes, absentmindedly. He had gone back to slow sentences, "Well, she doesn't want another kid and I do."

Shintaro, so far, has thought that high on laughing gas Haruka was a lot like regular Haruka. This just confirms it.

"Haruka, you know how Takane gets when you don't speak your mind. _Especially_  if you lied," Shintaro warns, and that _does_  seem to make Haruka flustered. But he just shrugs,

"She doesn't _have_  to know I lied. Shhh," he brings a finger to his mouth and looks at him. "It's a secret! Even if sometimes it keeps me up at night because I am a cold blooded liar who always hopes that the condom breaks."

"U – Uh–" well, one? Shintaro's heart is broken at the knowledge of this, especially since Haruka had called himself a "cold blooded liar", which is, he thinks, the less accurate way to describe this guy. And two, it's just weird to hear the word condom with his voice.

As if reading his mind, Haruka starts speaking again, "Did you know condoms are only 85% effective? I know. I read it."

Shintaro takes in a deep breath, "I– No. I didn't know that."

"Really? Even though Shintaro-kun is so smart," Haruka hums. "Ah, wait, that's right. He's a virgin."

"SHUT UP, ASSHOLE," he immediately tells him, because even if Haruka's words didn't sound anywhere near a derision, that was low. That's Takane's doing, he knows it is. Takane's just out there corrupting his best friend, like always.

But Haruka ignores him shamelessly, and dwells, "Well, but they are. 85% effective, I mean. And Takane was pregnant two times before so that was part of that 15% resting. Don't you think two pregnancies are a lot for two people who always, always use protection? 'Cuz we always do."

"I guess–"

"Always!"

"I GET IT."

"That must mean my sperm and/or her ovules are like. Super strong or fast or... something? I don't know. Or maybe we just have too much sex. That's what Takane says anyway."

"Okay, firstly, save the details. Secondly, _that is so not how it works._ "

"Mr. Tateyama never gave us sex education. That's a shame, since it's very important."

"I swear to god."

"But maybe it was awkward with only two students. What do you think?"

" _I think_  you're getting off-topic!" Shintaro really wants him to shut up, not only because of the awkward subject but because _really,_ he should _not_  be talking this much after getting a wisdom tooth taken out. Obviously, Haruka spoke carefully and all, but it still unnerved him. So if he was gonna talk, he better make it about what mattered, "Come back to the kids subject, man! I don't care about how active your sex life with Takane is or how little you know about how your own body works. Jesus. Those are the _last_  things I would _ever_  wanna hear about. I just wanna know why you lied to her."

"Well– Shintaro-kun, did you know that Takane miscarried once?" Haruka suddenly says, and despite Shintaro did already know, the word stabs him as hard as the first time Takane said it three years ago. "'Cuz she did."

"Y – yeah, I know," Shintaro answers, nonetheless, because he realizes he never spoke about this with Haruka. "She told me about it. Back when Fuyuha was born."

"Oh, yes. 'Twas the worst thing. I think. I think the worst thing that ever happened to us," Haruka _laughs_  for some reason. "Y'know, we agreed we wouldn't even _have_  kids."

He burts into laughter again, and Shintaro can only awkwardly stare. He's having a déjà vu with his words, honestly. He remembers plain as day when Takane told him that exact same thing in her hospital room, "K – keep your voice down, Fuyuha's gonna hear–"

"I mean, I always wanted to! We both did. Takane was kinda unsure at first, but then she realized she actually wanted to be there for someone the way her parents weren't. Isn't she sweet?"

"Uh–"

"Too bad we decided against it because of the illness I had, haha!"

"UH–"

"So! So since we both wanted to be parents, we weren't even _married_  and she got pregnant and we were the happiest people on Earth, and then life was like, oops, Kokonose Haruka and Enomoto Takane are having too much of a good time, aren't they? BZZZ, DEAD KID. Haha."

Shintaro was starting to think Haruka was a little more aware now, because he's speaking way too much, and he seems a lot more awake. But, still unaware enough to laugh while saying stuff like this. Regular Haruka had mostly grown out of the habit of saying depressive things with smiles on his face, after all. But old habits die hard.

He can't even reply to him, only abstractedly listening to Haruka correcting Takane's last name as Kokonose and babbling some more about how happy he is to get to say that.

"But _man_  did that suck! It was horrible. It was absolutely horrible, we cried ourselves to sleep for like a year!"

"Jesus, Haruka–"

"And, you know, sometimes it makes me cry even now," his laughter started to gradually stop by now, Shintaro's glad to hear, but his tone takes a gloomier sound. "To know she had to go through that."

As Haruka dejectedly stared at a lost spot somewhere past him, Shintaro sighs. He wants to tell him it's fine, it's not like Takane suffered more than he did but– yeah, Takane did suffer more than he did. She was the one carrying it, after all. He could never imagine what _she_  went through. Not even Haruka could, despite he was part of it.

Even if Haruka was next to her during it, and even if they suffered together, there was a thing Takane had to go through alone. Neither he or Haruka could ever get close to know what, Shintaro realizes.

And this thing he had just realized, is what Haruka has known for so long. He winces, finally understanding him a little better, "So... that's why you said she gets the final word?"

"Oh, absolutely. In this subject, next to what she wants, my opinion doesn't matter in the slightlest."

Shintaro was about to try to cheer him up with a poor "c'mon, don't be like that", when Haruka quickly adds,

"But still," he says, his voice guilty and resigned. "I really wish we could give Fuyuha a sibling. Neither of us had siblings, after all, so... it'd be nice. She's growing up, too. Eventually there'd be a lot of age difference and... Oh, I'm just being selfish."

He trails off, bringing a hand to his cheek, as he muttered something about not feeling that side of his face again. Shintaro sighs.

"I get it," he tells him, even though he doesn't. "But I don't think it's selfish. Like, it's not like you can't want something, Haruka, what the heck. Just– I don't think she deserves to be lied to. You should be honest about it and discuss it properly with her."

Haruka opens his mouth to answer again, but nothing comes out of it. Shintaro sees a red spot of blood on his tongue, since talking so much makes the gauze in his mouth move. The sound of the front door opening rattles again, with a second statement of,

"I'm hooome."

That announcement, unlike Fuyuha's, is lazy and small. Haruka seems to forget everything about the conversation because his face brightens up instantly, as he goes, "Wifey!"

"Yeah, hey," Takane walks in seconds later, carrying a smiling face and a few grocery bags that, in Shintaro's opinion, made her look hilarious in her police uniform. Because he knows that if you saw her on the street, you'd immediately know that's a mom officer.

But Shintaro doesn't make fun of her. He tries to chill with the jokes now that Takane owns a real gun.

In spite of the bags she carried, Takane found greeting her husband as more urgent than to take the groceries to the kitchen that is _right there_. The bags are settled on the floor, as she sits on the coffee table to be face to face with Haruka. He eagerly straightens up, "How was your d–"

"It was fine," Takane answers, before he could finish the question. "How was yours? How was your appointment? Are you feeling okay?"

Smiling awkwardly, Haruka dodges Takane's hand when it came up to feel his forehead, and nods, his mind only coming up with "...'Twas fine."

 _Jeez_ , Shintaro thought, _he just got a tooth taken out, chill._

"Hm. Was it? 'Cuz a lil birdie told me you kinda threw a tantrum."

_A little birdie? Honestly. Takane, don't talk to your husband the same way you talk to your daughter–_

"L – little birdie?" Haruka asks, very seriously and concerned, which makes Shintaro roll his eyes. Fortunately, he doesn't seem to realize he's the birdie, despite he was _right there_  when he said it to Takane over the phone. "You speak birdie language?"

She just offers him the softest smile, reaching her hand out to his face again, but this time, it's to cup his cheek, so Haruka doesn't move away. In fact, he turns his face and covers his mouth with it instead, putting his own hand on top of hers.

Shintaro, albeit disgusted, thought it was weird. It's true displays of affection while he's here is, sadly, a very regular and normal thing, but Takane's never the one to start it or encourage it. Usually, she's self-aware and doesn't let it go further from a hug.

But this whole caressing and kissing hands things? Shintaro wants to get out of here, this is super awkward to watch. He slumps on the cushions, crosses his arms, and huffs. They don't mind him.

"Did the clinic freak you out?" Takane asks Haruka, in the soft voice she only ever uses to speak with him or Fuyuha. He immediately nods, eyes suddenly watery, and she clicks her tongue, "Aw, you poor thing."

Shintaro expected Takane to suddenly smack him on the head and say "HA. Don't be a whiny baby!" but that doesn't happen. He realizes she wasn't being sarcastic, and she was just being stupid as hell.

Haruka, brokenly, answers, "I hate white."

"I know you do," Takane nods. "White's a bitch."

"And the long coats they wear. They're awful..."

"They are, that's true."

"And the gloves."

"Terrible, disgusting."

"And those tools."

"Mm-hmm, the worst thing ever. Why do they exist?"

Haruka nods eagerly, apparently cheered up already, as he states, "Yes, exactly, Takane. I love you."

"I love you too," she says, evidently content with his happier tone. "And you don't have to worry about the white, or the coats or whatever because it's over, it already happened. You were very brave."

"Huh? But... I was whiny."

 _You were, indeed,_  Shintaro complains in his mind, _you broke a freaking chair._

"That's fine. You're allowed to be whiny sometimes. You never get to," Takane coos. "You didn't like it and you went anyway, because you're super brave. It's done now. I'm proud of you!"

Smiling from ear to ear, Haruka bashfully rubs the back of his neck, "Ah, you are?"

Ugh, of course. Haruka just gets all "aw, shucks, honey!" when Takane compliments him. Shintaro thinks it's so icky that it's still the same as when they were in highschool. The only difference is that Takane's a lot more amiable now, but he isn't sure that's good. It just means more PDA.

"Sure am! I have the bravest husband!"

"Aww, you're just saying that..."

"Ow, but I'm not," Takane declares, suddenly turning to Shintaro. "Did you _know_  I am married to the bravest man in the world?"

"Awww, Takaneeeee..."

"I hate both of you gross assholes," Shintaro tells her. He wasn't gonna get dragged to whatever this stupid show is. If someone "aw's" one more time he's going to lose it. Which brings to mind– there's someone else who goes "aw" excessively. "...Where's Fuyuha? She was just gonna wash her hands."

At this remark, Haruka's blank face of love continues to be a blank face of love as he stared at Takane like Shintaro hadn't say anything. Takane's face, on the other hand, turns into horror, "She went to the bathroom unsupervised!?"

"W – well, yeah–"

"WHAT ARE YOU, STUPID!?"

"How was I supposed to know she needed supervision!? I'm just the fun uncle, that's not my job!"

Takane was about to shout something back, but the voices seemed to have risen enough to infiltrate the bathroom, because conveniently, Fuyuha appears hopping two seconds later,

"Mommy! You're back!"

Her sleeves are soaking wet, and she has foam in her chin. Takane sinks her face onto her hands, "Oh my god."

"Mommy, I made a pool party in the bathroom sink. Come look? You're invited. Daddy too, so he can feel better," Fuyuha innocently says, before nervously adding. "Oh, sorry, uncle Shishin, but I don't think you'll fit. Maybe next time?"

Shintaro's heart? Yes, that's the breaking sound that just rang. He can pratically feel a small broom sweeping away the pieces inside his chest.

Wait, what? He shakes his head as if to shoo that thought away. That's an exaggeration. The heart's just an organ that pumps blood, it's impossible for it to simple shatter like glass. He's been watching way too many cartoons with Fuyuha.

"Ughhh– okay, okay," Takane finally reacts, taking in a breath to calm herself down. "I have to get these groceries in place, clean whatever mess Fuyuha made, put Haruka in bed, start dinner– That's fine. This is totes fine. I am not going insane at all."

"I'll help," Haruka makes an attempt (a very miserable one) to stand up, but Takane softly pushes him back down by simply putting a hand on his chest. "Aww... let me be a good husbaaand..."

"Shut up, Haruka and– ah shit, that's your uniform, Fuyuha! You got it all wet!"

"Mommy said a bad word!"

"She didn't. Don't repeat that word," Haruka immediately says, in a second of sudden awareness. Shintaro, at the madness of this all, decides he can't take this anymore,

"I get it, I get it!" he gets up from the couch, lifting Fuyuha off the floor (she, although confused, made a long "yaaaay!" as she traveled up) and positionated her under his arm as if she was a satchel. "I'll help. I'll go change her clothes. What's the next most urgent thing? I'll do it right after."

"Oh, um," clearly surprised by his wilingness, Takane shakes her head. "That's fine, Shintaro, you did enough today."

He stares back at her, and she clears her throat in awkwardness. They could still hear the water running in the bathroom, Haruka was making fart sounds with his mouth, Fuyuha was soaking wet and humming a theme song, and the bags with the groceries continued to be sprawled on the carpet.

Takane sighs, "...'Kay, I get it. Thanks. After Fuyuha please take care of the groceries. There's icecream in there so I don't want it to melt–"

But oh, boy. If she wanted things to be easy, that was the number one thing she shouldn't have mentioned. Shintaro starts to feel Fuyuha squirm in his hold, "Icecream?! Mommy bought icecream?!"

And even zombie Haruka had perked up, grabbing Takane by the shoulders, "Icecream? Did you say icecream, Takane?"

Around Fuyuha, Haruka almost never calls Takane by her name, calling her instead by mom or mommy. So this was serious.

Despite the stress of everything she had to do, she smiles at him, "Well yeah, for my brave husband who went to the dent– MMMPH!?"

"Ew! Ew!" he hears Fuyuha say, as soon as Haruka interrupts Takane with a kiss. If Shintaro has something in common with this girl, it's this. "Stop it!"

"Yeah, stop it!" he says, for the sake of a good laugh, until he realizes Takane's _genuinely_  trying to push Haruka away, simply not being able to.

For a moment she had let him kiss her, but Shintaro was quick to notice the change in demeanor as she withered in the grasp of his arms.

He's leaning onto her from the couch, and she was still sitting on the coffee table so the position left her at disadvantage. She was even trying to speak, but Haruka wasn't letting her go, so at the realization of it, Takane starts hitting him.

Luckily, he does let her go after like the third punch, and when her face is free Takane inhales as if she had spent too much time underwater. She hits him again, to which Haruka doesn't even react much aside from a small "ow", and immediately gets up, "Jesus, you maniac! If you use your ability on me again I'll chop your–"

Her voice dies down when she turns to Shintaro. Well, not to him, but to the little girl who was still under his arm.

"Chop. Your food. That's what I was gonna say. I... WHATEVER, JUST DON'T DO THAT AGAIN!" Takane smacks him on the head one last time before starting to make her way to the most likely flooded bathroom. From there, Shintaro hears her add, "And your mouth tastes like blood!"

He and Fuyuha turn to Haruka, seeing his sleepy smile on his face as he said, nodding to himself, "Wifey bought me icecream."

Shintaro stares at that smile for a second, remembering the whole thing about the second kid; Haruka seemed happy right now. Maybe he was just babbling. And if he wasn't, it wasn't like anything he said would matter anyway.

As he and Fuyuha travel upstairs to get her a change of clothes, Shintaro joins her when she begins to loudly sing the opening of an anime he also likes.

* * *

 

After that, he doesn't come back to the Kokonoses' house for two weeks. Today, he was coming over again; unannounced, of course.

He had managed to finish and sell another song, he was proud to tell Haruka and Takane over the phone yesterday. Shintaro's a recognized, world-famous song writer, after all.

(Actually, he just has a decent amount of followers online and works at a record store. That's a detail, though. As he has said when he got hired in that place two years ago; it's only temporal!)

His friends had sounded enthusiastic, but maybe not as much as he would've liked or expected, since a tantrum, courtesy of Fuyuha, could be heard in the background.

Shintaro thought it was really odd, and he had a hard time imagining the situation. Actually, he's not sure he's ever even seen that girl throw a tantrum before.

Sure, she pouted and cried her eyes out all the time, but it was never because of a tantrum. More because of stuff like...

_"Mommy, why are you killing him!"_

_"Ehh, it's just a videogame, Fuyuha–"_

_"You're killing the man!"_

_"Well, they're the bad guys."_

_"Still, you should give them a chance to apologize!"_

Ah, yes. That was a far more common scene. Haruka and Takane couldn't play their games if Fuyuha was in the house, because if she did as much as listen to the sound of it, she'd burst into tears.

And he knows for a fact that kid can't stay mad for longer than two seconds. That, and Haruka and Takane are literal king and queen on a term Shintaro has lovingly given them: overindulging parents.

In fact, if mom and dad said no, Fuyuha would only pout and nod in understandment, proceeding to forget about it. Too bad mom and dad _don't_  forget about it, feel guilty, and immediately go get her exactly what she wanted.

It's a good thing those two decided to buy a big house, because if it was any smaller Shintaro was sure it would explode with all of Fuyuha's toys.

Last time she had asked for a pet pig, Shintaro remembers, because of the cartoon girl who owns one. Now that's a thing Haruka and Takane were forced to say a firm no to.

But since she watched that cartoon everyday, Fuyuha didn't forget, and asked for the pig for days, driving everyone crazy. That's the closest Shintaro can consider a tantrum she had, but it wasn't a chaotic tantrum like the one he heard over the phone, and only a question repeated way too much.

(The resolve of that was Haruka simply going and buying her a plushie. She, as of now, refuses to let go of the stuffed pig and trusts it into Shintaro's care to babysit when she's in preschool and her parents are at work. She would be very, very upset if she found out he has never even touched the thing).

 _But_  Shintaro was in way too much of a good mood to be ruined with a senseless tantrum, which was probably over by now. The phone call was yesterday, after all, which reminds him...

"Hey!" he greets, enthusiastically, when Haruka picks up the phone. "I'm on my way to your place."

"Oh," is all Haruka said, and Shintaro– Shintaro heard Fuyuha's screams in the background again. "Well, it's not that we don't want you to visit but... Takane and I are kind of in the middle of something–"

The sun was setting. They should be about to have dinner, isn't it? Haruka and Takane never mind when he goes over for dinner.

So hearing Haruka's words hurt a lot more than Shintaro would've expected.

He stops in his tracks, holding tight in his hand the bag with the strawberry shortcake he bought to bring to his friends' house. Ah, wow, he didn't realize how much he missed them already.

Shintaro has been so absorbed in finishing the song these past two weeks that he hadn't visited at all, so he was kind of looking forward to this. He was kind of looking forward to have Haruka and Takane pat his back and tell him he did a good job.

He wasn't expecting such an answer. Haruka and Takane are always okay with him visiting, in the middle of something or not.

Trying to ignore the disappointment digging a hole through his heart, Shintaro tries not to let those feelings influence in his tone, "A – ah, well, you see, I'm kind of... only a few blocks away–"

"You don't live that far, though. You can just turn back."

 _Ouch,_  he felt as if a sword had cut his heart in half. _Cold._

"Well, I, um. I have cake."

He hears a giggle, "I warn you things are chaotic in here."

"Uncle Shintaro can handle it."

"I see," Haruka hums, and in his next words, his voice sounded a little far from the phone. "Well, maybe uncle Shintaro could cheer Fuyu up with that cake he mentioned."

Shintaro was about to ask why he phrased that so weird when he hears Fuyuha's excited shout, "REALLY, CAKE!? YAY!"  
  
"Hm, yeah, he's only a few blocks away. I'm not sure he'll want to give the cake to a crying Fuyu, though–"

"I'll behave!"

Shintaro's glad he's on a phonecall, because otherwise, it would have been embarrassing to explain why he got such a big smile upon hearing that dialogue.

(...)

Turns out, Shintaro should've taken Haruka's advice and turn back to go home.

The last thing he would want was to get caught up in family drama. Too bad that's what was happening right now.

Fuyuha, true to her word, had behaved as sweet as ever when he got here. So much, that if it wasn't that Shintaro already knew she was whining about something, he wouldn't have noticed anything out of the usual at all.

Except that, he ruined all of that himself.

He had _dared_  to ask (honestly, why the hell did he?) what was it that she wanted so badly. Well, he couldn't help being curious, but maybe (definitely) he should've asked Haruka or Takane later instead. Haruka and Takane, who started desperately shaking their heads behind their daughter when the question was out.

Because Fuyuha, upon hearing it, had miraculously looked up from her slice of cake, mouth covered in cream, as she announced, "Well, a little sibling, of course!"

It made Shintaro swallow a strawberry without even chewing it. Ah, crap. He walked right into that one.

He had sent his friends apologetic looks, and he continued to do so even after the cake was finished and Haruka and Takane started to tidy up the kitchen table. Fuyuha jumped behind them,

"Please, please, _please!_  Don't worry about money! I have lots and lots of pennies, I can help!"

Oh, wow. That's a big heart squeeze right there, Shintaro thinks. And he guesses Haruka and Takane do too, judging by the faces they make.

"Sweetie, siblings aren't bought in stores," Haruka calmly explained, as his wife sighed and threw the plates in the sink with frustration. That explanation, though, made Fuyuha pull the funniest expression, like she had an eye-opening revelation. "It's a tad more complicated than that."

"Whaaa? But my teacher said it was expensive!" Fuyuha frowned, feeling betrayed. "When I went to Haruka-chan's house, her parents told me it was expensive too."

Weirded out, Shintaro immediately shoots the parents a confused look. Takane mouthed, "Classmate from school."

Ah.

"They meant expensive like– eh, all yours toys, for example. We would have to buy all those toys to a sibling too."

Fuyuha's face softens up with that, perhaps relieved that she wasn't lied to after all, and answered without a second of hesitation, "That's okay. I can share."

Second heart squeeze. Good thing Haruka wasn't facing his kid while he did the dishes because otherwise, she would have seen the hearts in his eyes, "W – well, sharing won't be enough, you know? What if your sibling wants to own something instead of asking it from you?"

She ponders the question for a moment, but comes to a conclusion rather quickly, "I'll just give my sibling half of mine! I have too many, anyway!"

Jesus, maybe Shintaro should just go home if he doesn't want to die from cuteness. He was charmed to the core by the small girl's retorts, and he couldn't see how that ball of sunshine had came to throw tantrums about this, or how Haruka and Takane had managed to say _no_  so firmly.

Well, to be fair, she _was_  asking for a sibling. It wasn't a toy or a place. She was asking them to bring another family member.

Turns out, when high on anesthesia Haruka mentioned a sibling, Fuyuha didn't take it as lightly as her uncle. Shintaro had shruggred it off.

He figured Haruka'd follow his advice and talk to Takane about his true feelings for a second child. And if he didn't, whatever, that's on Haruka. It was a Kokonose problem, after all, so with that mindset, Shintaro continued his life without giving it much thought at all.

But apparently Fuyuha didn't.

To be frank, he does remember the face of utter euphoria she made when Haruka mentioned it. She hadn't even screamed or jumped like she always does when something excites her (which is, everything), she had just looked hopeful and overjoyed, as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Pleaaaaseeee," she whined, voice muffled since she was pressing her face against her mother's leg. "Christmas' coming...! Can't I ask for Christmas?"

Shintaro can't help butting in, and snorts, "Yeah, and your dad can ask for one too because of his birthday and you'll get two siblings."

Fuyuha nods with enthusiasm, going, "Yeah! Two siblings!" and then smiles up to Takane. Meanwhile, Takane seemed horrified at the idea of _two_  new children, and glares at him; even Haruka shakes his head in his direction.  
  
_"You aren't helping,"_  is what their eyes said.

"Fuyuha, even if we did give you a sibling, it would take longer than just a month," Takane tells her, despite that whole sentence didn't seem to make sense in her daughter's ears,

"Whaaa?" by only hearing her voice, Shintaro noticed she was getting sleepy. "Then, ummm... what about _my_  birthday?"

He sees Takane roll her eyes, as Haruka shoots back, "Do you really want to share your birthday with a brother or sister?"

"I wanna share everything with my brother or sister."

_God, just give this child a sibling!_

"Okay, then–"

"No, Fuyu," Haruka interrupts her, a small and tired sigh escaping his lips after washing the last dish. Fuyuha shakes her head,

"Please–"

Except, Haruka doesn't let her finish again, and simply continues drying his hands, "Fuyu, I'm sorry, but no."

"But daddy!"

"Fuyu."

"I wanna–"

"Fuyuha, that's enough," Haruka turns around with a face Shintaro's only ever seen on him when– oh. Huh. He's never seen Haruka with an impatient, worn-out expression before. Let alone hear him take a firm tone and let go of the shortening for Fuyuha's name he always used. He sees the way both his wife and daughter flinch in surprise, watching him in disbelief. "We already said no, and no is no. It's not happening. Cut it out."

Almost as if her mouth had been stitched closed, Fuyuha shuts up. Shintaro is reminded at that moment that she's a good kid. She always does as told. When the slightlest order is given to her, she obeys without question. Her parents are just massive pushovers; that's not on her, though.

And when she's on a tantrum like this, Takane is obviously the one who always tells her to stop it, or at least as far as Shintaro knows. He would hear, from time to time, Takane complain to Haruka about "why do I have to be the bad guy everytime?"

Guess he listened to her, in the end.

It was a weird sight. Shintaro should've gone home, after all.

Takane stared blankly at her husband, blinking the shock away, "Haruka?"

He turns his frustrated face to her almost abruptly, letting out a breath and allowing her to see just how hurt he actually looked. Yikes, Haruka wasn't doing a very good job at being the bad guy, to be honest. He looked like he was about to start crying.

As those two stare at each other, Shintaro shifts his attention to Fuyuha, who still remained in silence. Maybe she senses his eyes on her, because as soon as he looks at her, she makes one of those pouts she makes when she's going to bawl her eyes out.

Yikes again, is all Shintaro can think of it. Fuyuha, however, turns on her heels and flees.

"F – Fuyu?" Haruka nervously calls out, hurrying to put his wedding ring back on after finishing with the dishes. At the sound of the girl's footsteps traveling upstairs, his face changes into a more characteristic, worried one, "Oh, dear. Fuyu, I'm sorry, come back!"

Haruka disappears the second after a door slamming upstairs rings through the house. Shintaro awkwardly looks at Takane, since they found themselves alone now, and she only sighs,

"Why is he even apologizing to her?" she mutters to herself, turning her back on him as she grabbed a cloth to start drying the dishes. She didn't seem to be expecting an answer, but Shintaro felt awkward enough to provide one for her anyway,

"Well, Haruka's gotta Haruka."

"...What?"

"I don't know. I feel uncomfortable."

"I mean, Haruka did tell you to go home," Takane shoots, but he does his best to keep a straight face. "And then you were the one who asked her what was wrong. Honestly, what were you thinking?"

He wants to defend himself, but when he opens his mouth all that comes out is, "I wasn't."

Takane makes a small "mm-hmm" in agreement as she angrily opened a cabinet to put the glasses inside. Shintaro sees she stands on her tiptoes to do so, but he doesn't find it in him to tease her about it.

God, he's gonna talk with her about this, isn't he? He is.

Shintaro takes in a deep breath, and walks over to Takane to grab the things she tries to put in the shelves to do it himself. She glares, but in a way he can read a small thankfulness in it.

"So," he starts, and by the way she sighs exasperatedly, he's sure she knows he's not exactly going to change the subject. "I take it Fuyuha wants a sibling?"

Takane groans and hands him another glass, "I wonder what gave it away."

He takes it, and puts it on the top shelf along with the rest, "Well, what's up with that? Are you guys having a second kid or not?"

She pauses for a second, and looks at him. Shintaro does so too, watching the way she studies his face as if trying to figure out whether he was serious or not. Noting he was, Takane resumes drying a plate while shaking her head, "I mean, did something in that whole scene made it _look_  like Haruka and I are planning another kid?"

Okay, that's fair. It's true that that was a stupid question to make after Fuyuha's episode, but Shintaro just wanted to look for a way to bring it up. Which in return makes him wonder why on Earth did he want to do that.

 _"Why am I even meddling, anyway? It's not my problem at all"_  is what Shintaro would love to think right now. But he knew the answer to this question. Haruka, after all, serves the role of his favourite person in the entire world.

He already tried doing nothing, but apparently that didn't help Haruka at all. He wasn't even sure if he followed his advice and did talk to Takane or what, but knowing him, it was most likely he didn't.

Shintaro puffs up his chest to no one in particular, trying to gather courage. Alright! He'll ask her in his stead, it's a good opportunity, and there's no need to expose Haruka's true feelings on the subject either. Anything for his bro!

"But, say, Takane. Do you want another kid or not?" he asks, and despite it was only a matter of time before a question like that came out, Takane looks taken back by it. "I mean. The first time you wanted to, isn't it?"

"W – well, yeah, I did," Takane stammers out, visibly shaken-up with the question. "But it's different now. We already have Fuyuha, and we're happy as it is."

"Are you though?" Shintaro narrows his eyes, making a high voice so it would sound softer and slightly teasing. Sometimes, he can read her like a book, and at the realization, Takane turns to him a little freaked out.

"I am! I mean, _we_  are!"

"Because last time you were just scared of the pregnancy and hereditary illness or whatever. Isn't it the same now?"

Just as he anticipated, Takane starts stuttering as she tried to look for an acceptable excuse. Finding none, she just shakes her head,

"Okay, maybe? But it's not like it matters. I don't want a second kid," she ends up frustratedly settling for these words. Shintaro only offers her an inquisitive look, which he felt spoke to her like _"ya sure, girl?"_  because Takane rolls her eyes. "Okay. _I guess_  it'd be cool. Haruka's an only child like me, so..."

That remark felt oddly familiar, Shintaro thinks, as Takane followed up with,

"And– Fuyuha's growing up, and if she had a sibling I'd like it if they didn't have a huge age difference. I don't know, it's a whole thing. Whatever."

Ah, of course. That's exactly what Haruka said when he brought this up to Shintaro, after all. It's then when it hits him that maybe this means Haruka _did_  talk about it with Takane.

Shintaro closes the cupboard after finishing placing the things Takane handed him, "...So you and Haruka talked about it?"

Takane bites her lip, and agressively opens the cutlery drawer. Carelessly, she throws inside the four forks they used for the cake without drying them, and Shintaro absently remembers Haruka nagging at her for always doing that. "Yeah. We talked about it."

Bingo. He winces at the thought, because if they did, that meant that they decided against it anyway. He still forces out another question, "And you still agreed not to?"

"Eh, yeah?" she sends him a weird look, and wrinkles her nose as she apparently finished processing his words in her head. Shintaro waits for her, but since this is Takane, he quickly grows impatient. Did she not get what he said? It wasn't really complicated. "I mean, we just don't want another kid."

Didn't she just say she did?

"It doesn't change anything that _maaaybe_  I'd be up for it. We still agreed we wouldn't have a second child, even before Fuyuha started going crazy about this _for whatever reason._ "

When Takane mutters something along the lines of "where did she even get that idea from?" Shintaro, also very confused, clarifies, "Well, Haruka was the one who brought it up to her."

He flinches when he sees the way the woman next to him pauses, turning her head to him almost robotically, "...What?"

"Y – yeah, when he was saying dumb shit after the dentist," he tells her, and Takane opens her eyes even more. It's then when Shintaro replays her words from just now,

_"We agreed we wouldn't have a second child, even before Fuyuha started going crazy about it."_

Realizing the misunderstanding, Shintaro hurries to say, "Wa – wait, when I asked if you two talked about it, I meant _recently._  As in, after the dentist thing?"

"What. No. We did talk about it but like, two years ago or something?" oh, damn. He said enough. Takane, still with drying cloth in hand, crosses her arms and rests her hips against the counter, as if making herself comfortable for the next conversation. "But why so specifically after the dentist thing? Did Haruka say something about this? He mentioned a sibling to Fuyuha?"

"Um, no, not really," he scratches his head, forcing out a nervous laugh. "He was high on laughing gas, y'know, it probably didn't mean anything–"

"Shintaro."

" _OKAY,_  he _might've_  asked Fuyuha if she wanted a sibling. And then he kinda started dropping truthbombs about how he really wants another kid but since you didn't, he didn't say anything," he unwillingly blurts out, his mouth working by itself after hearing the severe tone Takane used to pronounce his name. Well, it was too late now. "I kinda thought... I kinda thought he talked to you about it, because I told him to. This is a big screw up from my part."

Not that it was new.

He owed Haruka a really big apology. Talk about being exposed.

"He..." Takane starts, and those furrowed brows didn't make him foresee anything good. "He  _lied_  to me!?"

"Okay, technically, yes, but–" Shintaro moves his hands up and down as if to tell her to keep the volume down, which Takane obeys reluctantly. They both steal a glance of the kitchen door, even if Haruka had chased Fuyuha upstairs and certainly wouldn't be able to overhear anything. "But he did say that you're the one who has to go through the whole thing and stuff. Like, he says you get the final word on it because you're the one with... the womb and. And stuff."

He gestures to the middle region of her body, awkwardly. Takane rolls her eyes again, " _Womb and stuff._  Seriously."

Shintaro would've told her off if it wasn't that he agrees he doesn't have the best way with words. _For a genius, I'm a really big dumbass._

Takane falls silent after that, and drops her gaze to the floor. The drawer's still open, but neither of them move to do anything about it.

Shintaro already felt awkward before. Now it'd be an understatement to say he still is. So he just attempts to joke, "Kokonose Haruka, feminist icon."

"Shut up."

"Isn't it cool though?" he asks, finding his way to the kitchen table again to sit in his previous chair. "You just said you'd be up for a second kid–"

"I said _maybe,_ " she immediately goes. "I just... I don't wanna be pregnant again."

"C'mon, it can't be _that_  bad," Shintaro feels his soul being sucked out of him by Takane's next glare. "...R – right, what do I know–"

" _Right, what do you know, indeed,_ " Takane hisses, offering a sarcastic smile that she quickly wipes off once she adds, "Though, surprisingly it's not because of what you think. It's because... well, we were just so scared something would happen that it made the whole thing worse. I mean, don't you remember when I went into labor? You know how stressful that shit was."

Shintaro grimaces and nods. Yeah, she's making a point.

"And when Fuyuha was born neither of us slept for like, two years or something."

"What?" now that did strike him as unexpected. Fuyuha was never a crying mess, and she's always slept the entire night plus all of her naps, official babysitter Shintaro knows. Despite her usual energetic personality, the kid's a big fan of sleep, much like her parents. During off days, no one's up before noon in this house. "But Fuyuha's so chill?"

"We didn't sleep because we used to check every five seconds if she was still alive," she explains, understanding where his confusion came from. Shintaro feels his heart drop, even though he wasn't really surprised to hear that.

Official babysitter Shintaro also knows that as a baby, Fuyuha used to permanently sleep in between Haruka and Takane, which he thought was just a whim of hers and she'd start crying if she was put in her crib. He didn't think it was actually a whim of theirs.

Last month she had a fever and both of them lost their minds, and stressed so much that they ended up falling ill as well. So there Shintaro was, not only babysitting the toddler but also her stupid ass parents.

(Haruka and Takane didn't take his "this is what happens when the certified sick kids have a kid together" joke very well, either).

Clearing his throat, Shintaro sends Takane an encouraging look, "Well, Fuyuha turned out just fine, though. You guys are just worrywarts."

She doesn't answer.

"And your pregnancy went okay too, didn't it?" he dwells. "I mean yeah, you went into labor a bit early but not enough to be premature so that was fine too. Literally everything went perfectly."

She doesn't even look back at him.

"Takane, you should give it some thought. Bring it up to Haruka again."

"Why are you insisting so much?" she suddenly asks, voice as sharp as it used to be back in highschool. "This honestly has nothing to do with you."

He knows she's right. Heck, that's what he's been telling himself the whole afternoon. But it still hurt to hear.

His mouth trembles for a moment, trying to look for an appropiate answer to that, but he doesn't succeed. Instead, with no filter, he ends up blurting out, "I – I don't know. I just want you guys to be happy."

A nonplussed expression traces Takane's face next, probably realizing she might've worded things too coldly. Shintaro looks away, fully aware that their conversation ended there and now things were plain awkward.

It sucked. Now, he'll just have to go home and stay by himself until he decides it's okay for him to come back. That'll take two more weeks, maybe more. And he didn't even get one congratulatory sentence about his success with the song.

Shintaro sighs. If Haruka and Takane had another kid, that would mean both would spend more time at home, but at the same time, it'll mean they'll become distant again as they try to mantain everything in order. They'll ask him to babysit again a lot as well.

That sucked too, because Shintaro did not want to babysit anyone. It was cool to have an excuse to drop by literally everyday, that's true, but ugh. He's not affected in any positive way if those two had another kid.

And somehow, he still wanted to beat the shit out of them to make them talk about it. Because it doesn't matter what he wants. Who cares about that. If both Haruka and Takane _wanted_  a second kid, then they should just go ahead and bring another tadpole to life!

It wasn't fair that they wouldn't just because their luck is garbage. They don't deserve that.

But unexpectedly, Takane speaks up, "Sorry. I didn't mean it like that."

He shoots his gaze back up at her, and raises an eyebrow, "H – huh?"

"Don't look so angsty," she demands, a small blush covering her cheeks. "Y – you're family, too... but this is just a little beyond your title as uncle Shishin, y'know?"

"Ah," he swallows back the stupid sigh of relief knotting his throat, and nods. "Yeah, I get it. Also, how do I get your daughter to say my name properly?"

"Huh? Is your name not Shishin?"

"Shut up."

Takane lets out a laugh, but Shintaro just rolls his eyes. He's given up in trying to get Fuyuha to say "Shintaro", because he doesn't think that he particularly minds it, actually.

_"That's too long, uncle Shishin! Shishin is shorter and cuter. You're my uncle Shishin. That's final!"_

(That was during the time Fuyuha was obsessed with saying "that's final" at the end of everything she said, simply because she heard Takane say it to Haruka once).

He sees the way Takane's eased smile molds into a more uncomfortable one as her eyes travel at the door, where Shintaro starts hearing footsteps from.

Sighing, Haruka has made his way back to the kitchen. In fact, straight to the coffee machine, his hair going into a million directions. It wasn't a common sight to Shintaro, who was about to ask him if he was okay, before Takane beats him to talk,

"You fell asleep?" it apparently _was_  common because Takane asks this, automatically noticing that's just how Haruka looks when he's just woken up. "And Fuyuha?"

"I only snoozed off for a few minutes," he answers, drowning a yawn in his hand as he placed a cup in the machine. "Fuyu's asleep. Coffee?"

Takane accepts, and she sounds pretty at ease again. Shintaro thinks that's good; after all, he thought she'd be angry at Haruka for "lying" to her. She turns to him next, "Shintaro?"

"Uh, I'm fine, thanks," he says, and the couple only mutter a small "okay" at the same time. The room falls quiet again.

Haruka closes the cutlery drawer upon realizing it was open, sending Takane a small nagging smile. She only shrugs sheepishly, leaning on him when he puts an arm around her. They both turn their backs on Shintaro, watching the coffee machine intently.

Shintaro sighs. Seriously...

"Haruka," he calls him, and his friend only makes a small "hm" at the sound of his name. "Do you remember the stuff we talked about when you came back from the dentist?"

Even though he couldn't see his face, Shintaro notices his sudden nervousness. Takane looks up at him, too, obviously noticing too when she feels him tense up against her. He keeps quiet for a second, before managing out, "Um, sort of. Why do you ask? Did I do something bad?"

Haruka turned around to answer, but Shintaro noticed the way the man's eyes threaten to move down to Takane's face. Shintaro shakes his head,

"Not really," he says. "You just were nuts about Takane being your wife and then you kissed her real hard in front of me and your three year old, so the usual."

Haruka smiles as if relieved, only going "ah, I see," in response. He shares the smile with his wife before going back to the looking at the coffee machine business, as Shintaro glued his eyes on Takane.

 _"If someone's bringing it up, it's gonna have to be you,"_ is what he tried to communicate through that look, and she seems to actually understand it. Too bad she wrinkles her nose and avoids eye contact, obviously planning to ignore him.

Shintaro doesn't like that. He knows Takane will pulverize him later for saying this, but he doesn't care; he's gonna help. Whether they like it or not.

"You also mentioned other stuff, actually," he adds, slowly and mischievously, and he loves the look of horror in Takane's face. In fact, Haruka looked pretty shaken-up, too, since it was evident he must have memories of it after all. "But you should talk about that with Takane, like I told you to. And address the fact you both want a second kid, and fucking do something about it."

He can't see how they react, because he's busy trying _not_  to see how they react as he gets up from the chair. Play it cool.

"Sh – Shintaro–"

"I'll be going home now," he announces, ignoring their calls. He meddled enough for today, and to be honest, he actually didn't care a lot about it.

"Uh– wait, Shintaro-kun!"

He does allow himself to look at them this time, just as the coffee machine finally finished. Haruka awkwardly smiles at him, as he says to him, "Um, good job on the song."

Takane, who had been frozen in place for the last minute, nods without changing her mortified expression, "Y – yeah, congrats about that."

Shintaro smiles, and sends them thumbs up, "Thanks. Good luck, you two."

Just dropped the bomb, and now he'll walk away and let them talk about it. That's as much as he plans to do, so the rest is on their hands. What they decide to do with it, Shintaro will have to wait to find out. He's just the uncle, after all.

Then he remembers it's Sunday, and that means another episode of the magical girls anime he's watching is dropping tonight. Uncle Shishin walks home with eager legs, forgetting everything about the Kokonoses' problems as he hummed the anime's theme song.

* * *

 

He doesn't think about the event until three whole months later, when Seto and a pregnant Mary dropped by at Haruka and Takane's for a visit at the same time as him.

Not that Shintaro knew, but apparently, Haruka had became very good friends with Seto. He thinks it makes sense, since both were cheerful idiots. And it was no secret Takane and Mary got along super well too, as he knows they bonded time back when Takane was still haunting his ass through his phone.

Those four apparently hang out often, he notices today. Shintaro doesn't feel like a third wheel though (or in this case, fifth wheel), because it's been a while since he's last seen Seto and Mary, and he was actually glad he gets to today.

They were happy to see him as well, and hugged him a little too tight for a little too long. That reminded him that over the years, those two have became really physical people.

In fact, it was the first time he was seeing them since they announced they were expecting. Which was, contrary to Haruka and Takane, immediately after they found out.

That wasn't the only different thing between them, Shintaro thinks, as he watched Seto coo at Mary's (very, very small, despite being 6 months pregnant) baby bump, rubbing it lovingly. When Takane was pregnant, Haruka wouldn't even dare to touch her and feel a kick if she told him to. As if she would explode if he touched her or something.

They've apparently (and thankfully) grown bored of discussing which diaper brand was the best one, and the current activity was watching Seto talk to Mary's stomach.

"And I'm going to play with you, and hold you veeery, very close to me as I sing you to sleep!" Seto continued to say, leaning down to his wife's belly, while said wife only giggled and carressed his head. "And I'm gonna give you soooo, so many kisses in your little cheeks! Oh, I can't _wait_  to see your little cheeks!"

Shintaro was about to puke. Honestly, he knows he always complains about Haruka and Takane's PDA, but if they were in a competition, Seto and Mary would kick their asses.

Haruka and Takane also watched awkwardly, sending Shintaro what seemed like apologetic looks here and there, almost as if asking _"we aren't like that, are we?"_

Well, yeah, they kind of are. But to be fair, it's Shintaro who keeps hanging out at their place and their "public displays of affection" aren't really public, in that case. He just enjoys complaining.

"Eh– so are you guys planning on moving back to town, maybe?" thank God, Takane finally decides to intervene.

The question causes Seto's kissy noises to finally stop, as he eagerly straightened up and flashed them a toothy grin. Fingers intertwined with Mary's, he answers, "Yup! We have plans to come back in the future, but it's most likely we'll remain at Mary's old place for the first few years–"

"Honey, it's your place now, too, you know?"

"Ah, yes! Our place!" he leans his head on top of Mary's, and both sigh dreamily. "...So, yeah, we'll come back, but maybe around the time the little one has to enroll in school."

"Oh, school," Haruka muses, slightly taken back. "Already thinking that far in the future?"

"Well, yeah, of course!" Seto pumps a fist in the air. "I'm also trying my best so when our baby girl gets here, her father will be a cool graduated man!"

"Oh yes, Kousuke is working hard with his studies and work at the same time!" Mary says, her eyes suddenly saddening, "I just wish I could do something, too..."

"It can't be helped, Mary," he tells her, very seriously, suddenly leaning back to be face to face with her. "You need to stay at home and rest so Shion can be strong and healthy."

"Yes, that's true!" Mary vigorously nods, assertively taking his hands in hers. "I can't afford to get upset! I'll do my best, too, and help her grow properly so she'll be strong for when she's ready to finally meet us...!"

"Mary...!"

"Kousuke...!"

As Mary and Seto shared another deep and dramatic embrace (like the fifth since they got here, he's horrified to have kept count), Shintaro clears his throat, "You're naming her after your mother?"

"Yes, yes!" Mary immediately says, face poking out from in between Seto's arms. "We agreed to call her after her as soon as we found out her gender. Impressive as always, Shintaro-kun! Didn't think you'd remember her name!"

"Well, I wouldn't be able to forget even if I wanted to."

The couple laugh for longer than necessary after his remark, and Shintaro can only awkwardly follow.

Fuyuha, who has been quietly playing on the carpet, suddenly decides she's bored of her toy cars and climbs on Seto's legs.

"Ah, Fuyu, come here, don't bother the guests–"

"No worries. We're all family!" Seto interrupts Haruka, helping Fuyuha up and properly sitting her on his lap. "What's new, Fuyu-chan?"

"Well, I got some star stickers."

"Cool! Where did you put them?"

"My bed! They glow in the dark."

"That sounds super awesome and I am very jealous! And where did you get them at?"

"Oh, daddy brought them from work."

"I see, I see!" Seto says, obviously smitten with the girl's responses. He puts his hand back on Mary's belly, and looks at it with fondness, "I can't wait to hear you call me daddy, too...!"

Shintaro chokes on his tea. Seto and Mary look at him in worry, but Haruka and Takane send him disapproving looks. It was already weird enough to hear the word "daddy" so often from Fuyuha, and he knew it was disgusting of him to feel like it was weird, but those looks the girl's parents sent him made him feel like pure scum.

As he recovered, he hears Takane mutter something into her own drink, "You're gross, _master._ "

He was about to defend himself, but then Haruka hummed in agreement with his wife. Shintaro decides to stay quiet.

Fuyuha suddenly gets an interest in Mary too, "Is Shion-chan here yet?"

"Oh, no– that's not what we meant when we said she'll get here later," Mary nervously points out. "We meant _later,_  later. It won't be today, Fuyu-chan, I'm sorry."

"Aw..." she pouts but nods, leaning her moles-sputtered face to Mary's belly. "Okay. I'll wait to play with you, Shion-chan. Hope it's soon."

She has learned to talk to the belly from seeing Seto do it so much, Shintaro figures. He's just glad she isn't asking how the baby got in there.

"Y'know, Fuyu-chan, Shion will be too small to play with you once she does get here," Seto remarks, patting the girl's head. It was good to remind her of that, because Fuyuha will probably be heartbroken once Shion's actually born and she's denied to have a play date with her.

"Huh? Not even tag? That's fine, I'll go easy on her!" Fuyuha smiles, sending her parents a proud look. "I'm great at tag."

"Yup, you sure are," Takane says, Haruka nodding along with her, and both seem tired by just thinking about it. Shintaro's never played tag with her, but he knows the exasperated tales Haruka and Takane tell about how _they can never catch her._

"Um– not even tag," Seto tells her, and Fuyuha looked almost offended with that answer. "She won't know how to walk, so she won't be able to run, y'know?"

" I can teach her!" she jumps off Seto's lap and starts walking around the coffee table. "See? I'm super good at walking– and I run even faster! Look–"

As Fuyuha prepared to dash across the living room, she's caught in the air by Haruka.

"Hey, daddy, lemme go! I gotta show auntie Mary and uncle Seto how fast I am!"

She complained, whilst the mentioned people seemed to melt like they did everytime they were addressed as auntie and uncle. Shintaro could relate to that. Haruka sits Fuyuha down in between him and Takane, smiling sweetly to her, "I'm sure they know. You know you can't run inside the house."

Takane, muttering under her breath for a second time, goes at Haruka this time, "Wet blanket."

Fuyuha lets out a loud laugh, "HA! Mommy called you a wet blanket!"

"Mommy hates running in the house even more than daddy, actually," Haruka, scrunching up his nose in fake annoyment (but still smiling), pokes Takane's arm. "So don't look so smug!"

"I hear accusations but no proof."

"Oh, I'll give you proof."

"Well, I still wanna teach Shion-chan how to run. I'll teach her, I promise," far from ignoring her parents' shameless flirting, Fuyuha stands up on the couch's cushions and absently places one hand at each of Haruka and Takane's cheeks to avoid any kisses. No kisses seemed to be about to happen, but Shintaro still silently thanked the child. She looks at Seto and Mary with hopeful eyes. "I wanna play with her, even if she's small. Can I?"

"Oh, Fuyu-chan," Seto places a hand on his chest. "Good thing your mommy is a police officer, cuz you've officially stolen my heart!"

"Mine, too!" Mary says, and leans her head on her husband's shoulder. " _Of course_  that you can play with her!"

"Yes, absolutely!" he agrees. "Y'know, Fuyu-chan, you'll be such a great big sister one day!"

Shintaro chokes with his tea for a second time.

 _Of all the things he could've said,_ he thinks, clearing his throat and placing his cup back on the coffee table. _He had to go ahead and mention that._

It's true he hasn't witnessed crazy for a sibling Fuyuha again since that one time, but it still surprises him when instead of going insane like she did when Shintaro asked her what had her so angry three months ago, she just calmly says, "Oh, I won't."

"No need to be modest!" Mary chirps, not noticing the way Haruka and Takane nervously shake their heads. "Your sibling will be suuuper happy to have a sister like you!"

"No, no," Fuyuha clears out, joyful as ever. "Mommy and daddy don't want a sibling."

She worded it wrong, but it was clear enough for Seto and Mary to understand.

The two go rigid with the statement, instantly realizing their mistake. Their smiles continue to be plastered on their faces, but with anxiety now, as they both begin to stammer out, "O – Oh, I see, well, that's too bad, well–" and things of the sort.

"Yeah, they said no," unfortunately, Fuyuha decided to make it longer. "Daddy looked kinda scary when he said no, almost as scary as mommy–"

"Fuyu, why don't you go watch tv upstairs?" Haruka nervously cuts her off, to which Fuyuha just looked at him in confusion.

"Can't I just watch tv here?"

"Yes, okay, but then you'll have to put up with mommy and I kissing each other lots."

"EW, I'm going, bye!" with that threat (which always worked), Fuyuha quickly hops off the couch and heads for the stairs. "Tell me if Shion-chan gets here!"

"Will do!" Seto and Mary call after her, and satisfied with that answer, Fuyuha makes her way upstairs.

Once they're sure she's in her room (they can't wait for a door closing as a sign, since Fuyuha never shuts the door of her room. The only exception was when Haruka told her the firm no about the sibling), both guests start bowing their heads in apology, blurting out over and over, "We're so sorry! We're so sorry!"

"Don't worry, it's fine–" Haruka reassures them, but the two of them seemed like they would start crying any second now. "It's not that big of a deal."

Mary shakes her head, "B – but this is so unexpected!"

Downing his entire cup of tea in one second out of embarrassment, Seto seems encouraged enough to talk next, "Y – yeah! To be honest, every time we don't see each other for a long while, I sort of expect to find Ene-chan with a big belly!"

"What!?" Takane crosses her arms. "Why!? What did that come from!?"

"Ehh– well, since the first time was such a surprise..."

Shintaro, who has been trying to become one with the armchair, believes it makes sense Seto would expect that. To be honest, before the whole sibling thing from three months ago, he felt the same.

But he wasn't interested in hearing about this, so he decides to get up, and announces, "I'm getting a refill. Anyone else?"

He shouldn't have offered, Shintaro thinks with annoyment as he's stuck with five cups in the kitchen. He tries not to pay attention about the conversation about kids in the other room.

During the time Takane got pregnant with Fuyuha, Shintaro was in a massive depressive episode (which wasn't fun), and spent most of his time staying (freeloading) at Haruka and Takane's.

Despite that, he didn't really pay a lot of attention to them, so he only realized Takane was pregnant when it was impossible to hide. Mostly because coffee-lover Takane had turned down his offer for it too many times in a row. And also she was kind of showing. Actually, maybe that was the first clue.

And according to what Takane told Shintaro the day she gave birth, Haruka himself wasn't told until days before Shintaro found out. Apparently, he noticed it too (even sooner than Shintaro's non-observative ass) but after hearing it from the horse's mouth, he just sucked terribly at hiding it. Haruka's slip-ups were Shintaro's second clue.

But the Dan? Oh, the Dan only found out because they had a meetup. If that meetup hadn't existed, they probably wouldn't have found out even after Fuyuha was born.

Because Haruka and Takane, ever the stupidest people on Earth, didn't tell them they were having a kid and showed up seven months into the pregnancy.

It'd be an understatement to say the Dan lost their damn minds.

He has to make two trips to bring back the cups, the first ones for Seto and Mary, and the second one (albeit dangerous, since he was carrying three at a time) for Haruka, Takane and himself.

Receiving small thanks as he sits down, he realizes they were talking about the exact same thing he's been thinking of,

"It was just so funny! I still remember Tsubomi's face when she saw you, Ene-chan," Seto laughed, "She frantically started to make sure the food she made was pregnant friendly!"

"Yes, and I wasn't allowed near you in case I fell on you or something!" Mary chimed in, Haruka and Takane awkwardly forcing out laughs too. "The leader practically became your bodyguard for the day!"

"Oh, oh, but my absolute favourite thing was... Ah, Mary, you ready?"

"Yes, yes!"

Shintaro didn't know what that meant, but Haruka and Takane quickly dropped the smiles, "Ehh– that's really not necessary–"

"One, two....!" ignoring them, Seto and Mary do the countdown together, before Seto goes first, turning to Mary and forcing a confused expression,

"I thought you told them, Takane!"

Mary, giggling too much to try and imitate an angry expression for Takane's part, shoots back, "Oh, no, I thought _you_  told them, Haruka!"

"So no one knew? Oh dear!"

"Oh dear, you're such a dummy, oh dear!"

"It wasn't like that!" Takane immediately cuts them off, blushing furiously. "You're just exaggerating!"

"Nah, it was kinda like that," Shintaro shrugs, finding Seto and Mary's performance highly entertaining and accurate. "A lot like that, actually."

"You shush," she hisses at him, as Haruka couldn't help a few laughs himself,

"Yeah, Takane, it _was_  pretty much like that," he tells her, hugging his grumpy wife close as in comfort. He grins towards the other couple and assures, "That won't happen again, sorry!"

Shintaro's attention is immediately grabbed by Haruka's words, but when he looks at him, he doesn't seem very different. He calmly blew the steam over his new cup of tea, as if nothing. The thing he said just now, _"that won't happen again"_ , continued to ring in his mind.

What does he mean with _again_? Like there was going to be another occasion in which something like that could happen?

He looks at Takane, then at Seto, then at Mary. No one seems fazed or anything. Huh.

 _Then, it was just me who misunderstood it,_  Shintaro thinks, taking a sip of his own tea. Shit, he burned his tongue.

"It better not! We all went a bit crazy that day!"

"Yeah! Though it was still a good baby shower, even if it was improvised."

As Haruka rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment, continuing to apologize, Takane brings her cup to her lips as well. Shintaro raises an eyebrow when he sees her immediately spit the sip back into it.

"Oi, what's the big idea, Takane?"

Flustered once she noticed she was seen, Takane simply states, "This is coffee."

"Sure is," Shintaro nods, slightly weirded out. "So? You wanted tea?"

"Yes."

"Well, that's no reason to spit it back in the cup, ya nasty," Shintaro says, and that's enough to catch the other three's attention. "Plus, you never prefer tea over coffee– Oh. _Oh._ "

"Is everything alright?" Mary worriedly asks, as Shintaro watched the way Takane's face turned into utter horror.

"Yeah," he answers, moving his stare to Haruka now. The man nervously looks away, focusing in putting sugar in his tea. "Huh."

So Haruka had unnecessarily said "again" after that one phrase, and Takane suddenly can't even take one sip of coffee. That's... interesting.

Both of his friends avoided to look back at him, uncomfortably aware that he has figured them out with so little information. The other two seemed confused as hell, though.

That's fine. Shintaro'll take care of that, "So. Seto, Mary. You guys were staying here for dinner? Cuz I've been doing good in the music business lately. Got some money to spare, how about all five of us go out for sushi? It'd be on me."

Despite he specifically directed that to the other people in the room, Shintaro didn't stop staring at Haruka and Takane. He could practically _feel_  the shit eating grin on his own face.

"Oh, Shintaro-kun, that's super nice of you," Seto says, casual as ever, as he rubbed his wife's tummy again. "But Mary can't eat raw meat while she's carrying. Or fish, for that matter..."

"Yeah, Shintaro-kun. Weird you didn't know that?" Mary tilts her head to the side. "Since you're such a smart guy..."

"Hm. Yeah. My bad," he continues. "How about you two, then? Or are you not in the mood for fish, either, Takane?"

"Um," Takane, avoiding eye contact for dear life, clears her throat. "Not... particularly, I pass."

" _Huh,_ " he goes. He finally turns to Seto and Mary and points at Takane with his head, "She doesn't want fish, either."

They awkwardly smile at him, clearly having no idea what's gotten into him, "Uh, is everything okay, Shintaro-kun...?"

"Sure is," he nods, laying back on the armchair, feeling and loving the smug aura around him. "I'm just thinking that Shion will probably make a friend very early in life. Whatcha guys think? Haruka, Takane? Any comments?"

"Shut up, Shintaro!"

Too bad Seto and Mary seem to finally figure it out, and they're so loud with excitement to the point even Fuyuha comes back downstairs.

Takane looks daggers at him as Mary insisted they took a picture of their bellies together, Seto cried his eyes out while he hugged and congratulated Haruka, and Fuyuha was desperate to know what was going on.

But Shintaro doesn't care. It's none of his business, anyway. He's just the uncle. Uncles let out little slip-ups like that all the time.

He takes another sip of his tea and burns his tongue again.

**Author's Note:**

> Oh, wow... I can't believe you made it all the way down here...!
> 
> Well, if you enjoyed it even in the slightlest, then I'm happy. I really liked writing with Seto and Mary, I think they're hilarious. It felt weird to write Mary calling Seto "Kousuke", but I thought it was weirder that she'd call her husband by his last name...
> 
> I just want Haruka and Takane to have kids more than I wanna live! Also, I'm a lesbian, but I would marry a guy like Haruka in a heartbeat.
> 
> Well, thank you for putting up with this hot mess of a fic!


End file.
